The present invention relates to a program data processing method and an apparatus preferably applied to a recording apparatus which records, for example, broadcast programs on a recording medium such as a hard disc.
Heretofore, a hard disc recording and reproducing apparatus which uses a hard disc as a recording medium has been in practical use for recording (video recording) television broadcasts. In the case of this hard disc recording and reproducing apparatus, it is possible to record a television broadcast signal, for example, with a recording capacity of several tens of giga-bytes for several tens of hours. With respect to the recordable hours, they are assumed to increase depending upon improvements in the recording density of the recording medium and/or upon improvements in the compression technology of the broadcast data.
In this hard disc recording and reproducing apparatus, there is an apparatus which receives electric program guide data called an EPG (Electric Program Guide) in order to perform video-recording of television programs easily. EPG data are added to broadcast data in the case of a broadcast system such as a digital satellite broadcast and are also sent by adding them in a specific time period, such as the blanking period of a video signal in a specific channel, in the case of a ground wave such as an analog broadcast. Further, there is also another system where they are signal-distributed to a user-side recording and reproducing apparatus through a transmitter such as an internet without any connection with the transmission of the broadcast data.
An effect is obtained for users such that a video-record reservation of a desired program can be performed relatively easily by receiving the EPG data transmitted in this manner, by displaying a program table of a television broadcast on a receiver screen according to the received EPG data and by performing an operation of selecting a program in the program table which is desired to be video-recorded.
Also, it is possible to make a serial program reservation at one time, such as of serial dramas which are broadcast, for example, at a predetermined time every day, by utilizing the program table according to the EPG data. Further, it is also possible to search a program by a preset keyword and to automatically reserve a program which was found by that search.
In Japanese Laid-open Pat. No. 2000-287147, there is a description of one example of a television receiver where a video-record reservation is made by utilizing such electronic program data. The reference also describes reserving continuous programs two or more times for its video-record reservation.
Television broadcasts have been provided on many channels in recent years such that a number of channels beyond 100 exists for a single broadcast service, for example, in the case of a CS (Communication Satellite) broadcast which utilizes a communication satellite. Consequently, there has been a tendency to also increase the electronic program data in proportion to the number of channels, and there is a problem that it takes a tremendous amount of time to receive all of the EPG data transmitted by one broadcast service. For example, in a certain broadcast service, program data for one week after the present for each channel are transmitted as EPG data, so that it takes a tremendous amount of time to obtain all of the EPG data for one week for all channels.
In order to receive EPG data, it is necessary to continue receiving a specific channel (promotional channel described later) in which the EPG data are obtained during a receiving period of the tuner, so that there is a problem that a function such as receiving other channels is restricted during the process of obtaining the EPG data and therefore, it is preferable if the EPG data is obtained in as short a period as possible. Also, even if all the EPG data can be received, it is necessary for the recording apparatus to save the EPG data in order to make a video-record reservation according to the received EPG data, and there is a problem that a mass-storage memory (record) medium is needed for storing the EPG data.
In addition, if, in broadcast systems formed with many channels, the video-record reservation is made with reference to only the EPG data, there is a problem that the programs which are preferable for users are not always video-recorded. More specifically, for example, if the apparatus is set such that all of the programs displayed as news in the program table according to the EPG data will be video-recorded, there are many channels which broadcast news and it is unlikely that only the news of the channels which are desired by users therein will be video-recorded.
Further, with respect to the EPG data, fundamentally the EPG data of all channels are designed to be obtainable with the exclusion of partial exceptional channels, but in the case of ground waves, it does not always happen that the channels which are receivable in good condition in an area users are living in coincide completely with the channel data obtained by the EPG data. Consequently, even if a program reservation is made according to the received EPG data, in the case that the program which was reserved for video-recording is a program of a channel whose reception is very bad in that area, a video or a sound which includes a lot of noise will be video-recorded and it is highly possible that a meaningless video recording may be performed.
Also, in the case that EPG data are transmitted by multiplexing with broadcast data in a digital broadcast system such as a CS broadcast, the system constitution is designed such that the minimum necessary amount of EPG data can be received when receiving any channel of the channels with which EPG data are multiplexed, but program information which is as detailed as possible is needed in order to make the above-mentioned program reservation, so that it is preferable to obtain EPG data by receiving a channel from which such detailed program information can be obtained. For example, in the case of a CS broadcast, a channel for guidance referred to as a promotional channel is prepared and it is the most preferable to receive EPG data from that channel.
However, there is a possibility that the channel for guidance may change owing to changes of the channel constitution. For this reason, in the case when the channel number of the channel for guidance is set to be received in a tuner (connected tuner) installed in a recording apparatus, the optimum EPG data cannot be obtained if the channel number of the channel for guidance is changed.